why oh why did I use 22 gauge wire?

[Frostillicus]

I wired the inside of my cab with  22 gauge stranded wire, generally the recommended stuff around here.   It's such a rats nest.  OK, granted I didn't do such a clean job of wiring, but I tied up similar wires, and used different colors where I could.  But some of it I couldn't escape(I had to wire some joysticks directly to others because there's only so much room in an IPAC terminal).

Anyway - just a recommendation for future wirers - If I had to do it again I would use something like 4-conductor 26AWG telephone cable.  It was cheaper, and color coded.  Or something similar.  I know I've seen Kelsey use a similar type of wiring and his stuff is amazingly clean.  

I guess you could use an old parallel cable or something (clip the ends off).  Man I may redo mine now that I think of it....

[OSCAR]

I feel that 22ga stranded is about the best type of wire you can use on cabinets.  It's thin enough so even when it's bundled together, it is still pliable and easy to maneuver around in your cabinet, yet still thick enough to fit nicely in red disconnects without any trouble.

The key to keeping everything neat when using single strands is to use lots of nylon zip ties.  I normally zip tie wires together on about 4" centers, and that keeps all the wires cleanly bunched together.  I can easily use up a 100 pack of zip ties in just one cabinet, but I might take it to extremes, too.  You can probably save yourself the time of rewiring everything by just going back and bundling the wires together, providing that you left enough slack in the wires to let you do this.

I even go back and zip tie the multi-conductor cables together, too, but that may be overkill.  The other thing I do is use a staple gun and make a path where the wires are going to go, leaving the staple heads protrude about 1/8" - 3/16", then zip tie the wire bundles to the staples.  If you look closely at this pic, you can just barely make out the staples where the wires are attached to the sides of the cabinet.

http://www.oscarcontrols.com/cocktail/wiring8.jpg


##EDIT##

BTW - Here is the multi-conductor cable I use on my projects for those that are interested.  400' of wire for $18 isn't that bad and goes a long way to make your wiring nice and neat!  

[SirPoonga]

Look at behind the scenes pics on my site.  I tags the wires and labelled the buttons the same as the tag.  I also have a word doc with where everything is mapped out to.

[Aceldamor]

Yeah, I have a labler and I've labled on the bottom of each microswitch on my buttons/joysticks to  what imput I have them wired to on the I-pac, I've also bundled my wires for each set.  Example: My 7 buttons for player 1 are bundled as are the player 2 ones, my joysticks are bundled, ect.  It keeps everything not so ratty, while still making it manageable in case of a broken wire or some other mishap.

[GamingGreg]

I'm planning on using some leftover CAT-5 cable (24 guage) from wiring my basement.  It will keep things in bundles of eight wires and it's color coded already.   I believe a number of other people on this board have done the same.

[SirPeale]

I'm planning on using some leftover CAT-5 cable (24 guage) from wiring my basement.  It will keep things in bundles of eight wires and it's color coded already.   I believe a number of other people on this board have done the same.

Yep, I did that.  Although in retrospect I would have left most of it in the insulation.